Die Today and Live Tomorrow
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Death isn't always the end. Dying in one era, only to awaken in another, Uzumaki Naruto finds himself alone in a strange new world. A world where shinobi don't exist; one in which girls known as Shikabane Hime battle undead for the sake of salvation. To make matters worse, he's been contracted to one; and forced into a battle he has no intention of taking part in! NarutoxMinai!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, hello, hello again to you all! I've bought and recently been watching the anime Shikabane Hime (Otherwise known as Corpse Princess) while I'm recovering from another bout of illness. And thus far, I think it is a wonderful anime. Plenty of action, grit, a dash of humor and, after watching Minai's fate, a tad sad, too. I suppose that was what lit a fire under my muse and got me to write this. I DESPISE sad endings, and what happened to Minai just...well it really wrenched at my heartstrings and got me all in a tizzy.**

**Worse, when I tried to look up the fiction for it, I couldn't find any that suited my tastes. To top it off, there's only ONE Naruto crossover with this. ONE! When this series has so much potential nigh but brimming at the edges, too! Gah! So frustrating. So, I apologize to the pesky random reviewers who keep flaming me for putting out good workds, but in good conscience, I could not let this be or I'd hate myself for it. Furthermore, I've contracted new ideas out in my journal, so I promise, ya'll will only be seeing the good ones, like this'un! **

**And one last order of business, I have an update schedule now! Due to the insanity of my job, I'll be updating on certain days, as opposed to letting writer's block devour me. Yay! So in order, that update list would be Die Another Day (I've been digesting the canon ending and considering its implications) This Silence is Mine (One of my newer works-a NarutoxAlma pairing) Left in the Water (NarutxKorra) as well as Imperfection, amongst others. Once again, I thank you all for your support!**

**Now...**

**...consider this a bit of redemption for the fallen. Yup, pairing is NarutoxMinai! I may have changed a few things, regarding the timeline, since I don't know the exact date of her first "death" as it were...and its a bit sad!**

_"Soooo...let me get this straight. I died. I KNOW I died. But I'm still alive...? Okay, am I the only one weirded out by this, 'ttebayo?!"_

_~?_

**Die Today, Live Tomorrow**

_Pain._

A young ninja stared down at his fist in the dead of night, his right arm broken and mangled. It hurt. Almost as much as the knowledge that he'd lost everything. Everyone. When the nurse had responded to his dialect with bafflement he'd thought it odd. Funny, even. When he'd asked for the year, that amusement had turned to confusion. Then anger. Anger at the realization that he was not only still alive, but that last, fine clash, a Rasengan in hand against Sasuke's deadly, lethal Chidori, had somehow flung him into...

...into what?!

_"Seyaaaaah!"_

With a snarl he thrust his hand forward again, grinding it down into a meaty pulp. Such a sound should've brought the nurses running and it would have; had he not already snarled foul things at them. Needless to say, they left him alone well enough. But the agony didn't.

Pain.

Dimly, he was aware of theis pain shooting up and down his arm, a ryhthmic _thud-thud-thud_ jarring his limb, causing him to cringe in pain. It hurt. He knew it hurt of course. It hurt, and yet, oddlly enough, he couldn't bring himself to care. The pain was there present, ever constant, a sure sign that he was alive. Living. Breathing. By any and all means he should rejoice in this fact, given that he'd expected to die. Indeed, there was a small trickle of relief in knowing that he was still breathing, his rational desire to live momentarily surging to the fore.

It, like his injury, didn't last.

Even as he looked on the fingers of his ruined hand began to spasm and twitch, the bloody digits visibly awinding themselves as he watched. Broken bone mended itself, newborn muscle knitting itself across the broken cracks and fractures, followed by fresh, pink flesh. Within moments, it was as good as new. As if he hadn't just beaten it bloody on the nearby wall. He studied it intently, noting the way his fingernails weren't quite that of a humans, those slight, sharp, angry tips, and he felt a touch of worry.

"Well," he mused, "Now that is just odd...

The face that stared back at him in the shattered remains of the mirror seemed to be of the same accord. His right eye, red as a bloody sea-Kurama's eye-stared back at him, angry and slitted. The whiskers there were deep and dark, almost feral. When he opened his mouth to hiss, he saw the sharpened point of his canines on that side, too. A clear sign of Kurama's influence, no doubt. Whatever had been done to him, it had warped part of his body, somehow. His left eye was still its usual, true-human?-blue, as was that half of his being. And yet, not truly. When he blinked-when he focused his chakra into that eye-the violet swirls of the Rinnegan emerged with a quiet hum to greet him. The same eye Sasuke once possessed. This didn't make any sense!

He wanted answers, _needed_ an explanation.

But the fox wasn't there, wasn't present, wasn't listening. No matter how loudly Naruto called, his old friend and ally did not answer. He felt the void where the kitsune had once been, felt his chakra, but no matter how loudly he cried out into the emptiness of his soul, the old fox didn't answer.

No one did.

A monk-or what he assumed was one-had come by earlier. Curious fellow. Spikey hair. Glasses. What was his name? _Kesei?_ His words, affable, kind, even, lingered with him, even now.

_"Naruto-san, I believe it was? Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down! You should be thanking me! You were raging out of control when we you woke up in that crater; some kind of trance, or something, remember? Not gonna lie, you put a few of our guys in this hospital, and a few in the grave like Isaki-_

_Naruto threw a potted plant at him._

_Ha! Missed!" he grinned, but that daper smile faded in the wake of his wrathful glare. "Look, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here. So I'll just come out and tell you; we want your help. Some of the higher ups did some REALLY questionable things to get you sequestered in here and-he narrowly ducked into the room as a table whistled over his head-frankly, its because they see the value in you."_

_A growl. "Is that why I feel like shit?"_

_"We did everything we could, everything! Out of desperation, we tried bonding you with a Shikabane-Hime. And look at you! Yer calm now! I'm sure you don't understand-but its basically this. It shouldn't have worked. Ordinarily, you need a bond to perform a contract like that, but surprisingly...it went off with out a hitch. And it seemed to calm you down, at least- Okay, you're standing now, and-uh-oh. Hey! HEY, don't do thaaaaat!_

He'd thrown the bed at him after that, and he hadn't had a visitor since. For that, at least, he was thankfull. In the hours since, he'd shredded the strange tags they'd placed on him and felt better for it. Still, he couldn't bring himself to leave the room itself. Something was stopping him, binding him, trapping him in its confines. Was it a barrier? Or, was it his own regrets? If he left this room, he knew he would have to acknowledge the fact that he was alone. That the world had changed. Moved on without him. Whatever happened in the Elemental Nations-in his life-he was no longer a part of it, which meant...which meant...

And then the door clicked open. Furious, he dashed the tears from his eyes. A pillow was in his hand instantly.

"I already told you, baka monk, I'm not interested in-

Naruto blinked, the words dying on his lips as someone edged around the frame, poking their head into the room.

...may I come in?"

The bloody pillow flopped from his hand with a dull, wet, thud.

It wasn't Kesei. It was...

...a_ girl._

A heartshaped face framed by green tresses, from which eyes of deep, soulful violet shone. She stepped into the room quietly, and his eyes inevitably fell upon the weapons that were her arms. No, perhaps that wasn't quite right. On the gauntlets she wore, the bracers that buckled both arm and leg. Whomever she was, despite her seemingly timid nature, she was a fighter. He could see it in the way she carried herself. Her gaze had a statling purity to it, but that purity turned to demure concern when he turned, when she saw the other half of him.

_...shikabane?"_ the word pushed itself past her lips in an involuntary gasp. "No, no, that's not possible..." Much to his confusion, she shook her head. "I'm sorry...for a moment, I thought you were something else..."

"Oi, what's your name?" he asked, despite himself. She colored.

"M-Minai, sir."

"God, don't call me that! I'm probably the same age as you!" The words exploded from him in a rush, forcing a flinch from her. "No, wait," he quickly ammended at her cringe. "I'm sorry. Wait, why am I apologizing?" A hand settled on hers in a desperate attempt to mollify her...and touched something colder than ice..

"Cold!" he recoiled in surprise, momentarily baffled. Not even Haku had skin like that!

"I'm a Shikabane Hime." she replied. "Of course I'm cold."

Naruto cocked his head aside, curious.

"...what's a Shikabane Hime? And why does it sound so _girly?"_

Minai looked at him for a long moment. Finally she smiled. It was a shy, tentative smile, so fragile it looked as though it might shatter at any moment. "I suppose I should explain, but..." Then she spoke the words that changed his life.

"You're allowed to cry, you know." they were like the sweetest honey, soft and cloying. "You're only human."

Naruto startled upright in disbelief, more instinct than anything else. Indignation darkened his distorted features. Cry!? No, he refused to do that. Anger and disgust roiled inside like him an angry storm, threatening to devour him completely. Hate for himself, for Sasuke, and for everything wrenched out of his grasp, stolen from him. It was all gone and he was here, alone, forgotten...no! He refused to succumb.

"Who says I need to cry?!"

She smiled sadly. "I know I did, when I lost everything. Even Shikabane Hime are allowed to cry; its only natural that you should, if you want."

"Idiot, why would I want to cry?!" His hand struck the nearby viewport with a resounding smack, sending glass flying in every direction, and inviting the cold winter wind of the evening to lash at his face. Minai didn't so much as flinch when some of those shards slammed into her; accepting them with a stoic grunt of pain and surprise. It was this same cry that snapped the enraged blond out of his stupor.

"Shit, you're...!"

"It's nothing." Minai merely raised her gaze, smiling painfully. He watched, dumbfounded as she painstakingly pulled the pieces from her stomach and chest, leaving the sinister shards to clatter to the floor, one by one whilst he looked on. "I'll heal...but if this makes you feel better...?" Ultimately, it was that smile that broke him. Naruto felt something ugly and twisted break inside of him, and the grief flowed free. Against his will, he felt a tiny sob flee from his lips. Damn. Damn. DamndamndamndamndamnitdamnitDAMNIT!

"I...I've lost everything...

The last shinobi wasn't quite sure when the tears came; only that they did. He fought them at first, with the same stubborn tenacity that had defined him all his life. Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei...all his friends, all of the bonds he'd forged, the friends and allies he'd fought with through fire and flame...gone. With that thought the floodgates opened, and he was lost. He cried quiet bitter tears to himself-slumping to the ground-falling alongside him, falling to bitter, painful pieces.

Uzumaki Naruto didn't resist when Minai, a woman he barely knew, knelt beside him. "It's alright." she soothed, rubbing his back. "I won't tell anyone." His hands clutched at her, and she didn't resist. Naruto _still _didn't know what a Shikabane Hime was, but, even so he allowed this strange, cold woman to hold him, a woman without warmth, without a heartbeat. She comforted him, whispering soft words of reassurance, as he gasped and gulped out his sorrows, not once offering so much as a twinge of protest.

_He cried for a very long time._

**A/N: And there you have it. This is set roughly a year or so before the start of the main series itself. I simply couldn't tolerate Minai's fate, so, in the end, I wrote her a new one. Who knows, Minai might even find a way to become human again! As you can see, Naruto isn't quite human anymore himself. Not quite a Shikabane, but not human, either. He's something of a hybrid, and as such, the Kongou Sect tried to get him under control as quickly as they could. But come now, we all know Naruto...**

**...he can't be controlled! Expect insanity to ensue!**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would Ya Kindly? And Naturally, enjoy the preview!**

**(Preview)**

_"Die!"_

_"Tried that, didn't work." Naruto scoffed as the Shikabane rushed him. He didn't even deign to remove his hands from his pockets as the warped corpsed screamed forwards, howling for his blood. In the distance he was dimly aware of Minai shouting, screaming at him to move, to dodge, to flee, to get out of the WAY...and he chuckled._

_"Oi, oi, Minai-chan...I've already told you, stop acting..._

_He bent backwards, his shoulders nearly parallel with the sidewalk as the clawed creature rushed overhead, yowling. Confusion dawned on its misshapen face, yellow eyes wide wide with confusion, then fear as it felt a pinprick of pain blossom across its visage. Naruto, still hunched over, grinned. It was not a pleasant thing, that smile. Mismatching eyes flashed in the gloom, ruby and sapphire dancing merrily as it looked on. Then, he struck with all the force of a semi._

_...LIKE I CAN'T DEFEND MYSELF!"_

_In an impossible motion the blond twisted himself around, slamming one palm down into the concrete. In the same instant, his foot shot upward, heel crashing into-then through-_

**R&amp;R! =D**


	2. Bond

**A/N: Hello, hello, hello again to you all! I've bought and recently been watching the anime Shikabane Hime (Otherwise known as Corpse Princess) while I'm recovering from another bout of illness. And thus far, I think it is a wonderful anime. Plenty of action, grit, a dash of humor and, after watching Minai's fate, a tad sad, too. I suppose that was what lit a fire under my muse and got me to write this. I DESPISE sad endings, and what happened to Minai just...well it really wrenched at my heartstrings and got me all in a tizzy.**

**Worse, when I tried to look up the fiction for it, I couldn't find any that suited my tastes. To top it off, there's only ONE Naruto crossover with this. ONE! When this series has so much potential nigh but brimming at the edges, too! Gah! So frustrating. So, I apologize to the pesky random reviewers who keep flaming me for putting out good workds, but in good conscience, I could not let this be or I'd hate myself for it. Furthermore, I've contracted new ideas out in my journal, so I promise, ya'll will only be seeing the good ones, like this'un! **

**And one last order of business, I have an update schedule now! Due to the insanity of my job, I'll be updating on certain days, as opposed to letting writer's block devour me. Yay! So in order, that update list would be Die Another Day (I've been digesting the canon ending and considering its implications) This Silence is Mine (One of my newer works-a NarutoxAlma pairing) Left in the Water (NarutxKorra) as well as Imperfection, amongst others. Once again, I thank you all for your support!**

**Now...**

**...consider this a bit of redemption for the fallen. Yup, pairing is NarutoxMinai! I may have changed a few things, regarding the timeline, since I don't know the exact date of her first "death" as it were...and its a bit sad!**

_"__Moment of truth, Naruto! Who am I? Am I your friend? Your lover? The one shred; one light; one bright, shining star you clung to in this universe? Or am I your guilt? Crushing the life out of you because you can't get over the fact that I'm dead? That you feel responsible? Who...am...I?! Why do you keep fighting me? Why can't you let go?!" _

_~?_

**Bond**

_...I feel like an idiot."_

Minai smiled softly, resting her head on Naruto's shoulder. "I suppose you do. Might I ask why?"

"Because I am." he turned and glanced back at her-his Shikabane-absently stroking her cheek in a moment of whimsy. "What kind of moron breaks down like that?" His body shifted slightly on the bed, allowing her to lean into him with greater ease, her breasts pushing up against his back. If I'm not an idiot, I don't know what I am."

"Hmm." her arms tightened around him, considering the words. "Would you feel better if I let go?"

"NO!" Panic gripped his hear in a vice, his voice breaking with the strain. "I mean...no." he amended swiftly, seeing her expression. "I'm sorry. I just...gah, its hard to explain. I'm not feeling like myself right now. I don't know how to explain it, its like I'm-

"Broken." she said.

"Not what I'd say, but sorta, yeah."

She hummed softly into the back of his neck.

"We're alike, then."

The sage opened his mouth to protest, but the words refused to come.

As much as it pained him to admit it, she was his crutch. Something he could lean on. And right now, he needed a fair bit of leaning. His mind was a mess of emotion, and though he'd cried himself dry, he still felt as if he would shatter into a thousand pieces at the slightest touch. He hated it. Hated the idea of not only losing, but of everything being destroyed.

"Just...just don't let go, yet."

Her arms didn't let go, but they didn't squeeze any harder, either. He could feel her, smiling into his neck.

"Whatever you say, master."

In spite of his best efforts otherwise, the blond cringed at the turn of phrase. "Can you...please not call me that? Just Naruto will do. This is gonna take some getting used to."

And it would.

Naruto felt like the idiot to end_ all idiots_ ever to exist-having broken down in the arms of a complete stranger and sobbed like a child. After all he had just finished weeping, in the arms of an undead woman, no less. It was a complete breach of character for him, something he never would have done otherwise. And yet he had. His world was gone. He was all that remained of it. And to be honest, he wasn't entirely sure how he felt in that regard.

Frantic to change the subject

"So...you said you had a monk before me?"

"Hai," she admitted, bobbing her head, "Though I didn't know him very long."

"You said something about that, a bond or whatever. But I didn't know you until recently."

"When you were going on a rampage you," before his very eyes Minai's face brightened explosively-those alabaster cheeks staining themselves a pretty pink, "Y-You... spared me. I suppose that created something. The bond was formed swiftly enough that I didn't degenerate into a common shikabane." Naruto blinked, trying to wrap his mind around the terms of what she'd just said and failing horribly. He'd seen all manner of strange things, but this sounded an awful lot like an occult version of Edo Tensei to him.

Not that he'd ever use that god awful jutsu again! Merely knowing it made him feel ill.

"Naruto?"

"Ah. Yup. Heard every word."

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Minai deadpanned. Strands of dark, verdant green tickled his nose as she leaned forward into him again.

"Nope."

An awkward silence persisted between them after that.

"Alright, then maybe you can tell me what a contracted monk is?" he tried, sweatdropping.

"Well, as a contracted monk is a man of god who-

This time, his own pride betrayed him, and he snorted. "I'm no holy man_-ow!"_

She promptly bopped him on the nose. "Do you want me to finish or not?"

"Alright, alright. Sheesh! You remind me of Sakura-

_"__Moment of truth, Naruto! Who am I? Am I your friend? Your lover? The one shred; one light; one bright, shining star you clung to in this universe? Or am I your guilt? Crushing the life out of you because you can't get over the fact that I'm dying? That you feel responsible? Who...am...I?! Why do you keep fighting me? Why can't you let go?!"_

The memory was so powerful it nearly made him vomit.

His mouth snapped shut of his own accord at the memory, stubbornly suppressing the memory. Before his stomach could protest, he shoved a fist into his mouth and bit down.

_Hard._

"Continue." he muttered into a clenched knuckle, tasting blood on his tongue.

"A contracted monk patrols a certain duty and attends to his duties." Minai explained. "In most cases, its the destruction of Shikabane, those corrupted souls who haven't gone to the afterlife and the like. I'm using the most basic terms here for you, so I do hope you understand."

He nodded mutely, looking down. His left eye throbbed horribly.

"My turn for a question." Minai sat up, frowning. "Why do you look like that?"

"Like what?"

She gestured to his warped side and he flinched.

"Hey, I didn't choose to look like this. It just...happened.

"So...your left eye...

"I mean what I said, earlier," he muttered sitting up as well, indicating the glowing purple orb in all its rimmed glory. "This is the Rinnegan; I guess you can call it an eye of God. It can push, pull, attract and repel, even bring the dead back to life, if used properly. Not like these Shikabane whatever. A true resurrection."

Minai went very still against him. "Really?"

"Yeah, but its not something I've used. I'd have to learn it."

Crestfallen, she looked away.

"Oh."

Naruto paused, staring at his hand. His human hand. He'd found that his right half only _looked _demonic when he was riled up. Now, peaceably lying here, with Minai nuzzled next to him, he felt quite calm. Or at least as close as calm as one could become after losing everything he'd known and having a psychotic break. Adjusting to his new life, picking up the pieces of his mind, it would all take time. Time he might not have.

"Hey, c'mon, a power like yours isn't a punishment, baka."

It could be said that when you want something, that's what you did best. Either way...

Naruto was resolved to find out.

* * *

_(One week later...)_

As luck would have it, his new calling suited him rather well.

No one demanded that he obey the precepts of faith, just that he and Minai do their jobs. He didn't care for the contracted community and they in turn didn't care for him. By all rights he was an eyesore to them-a black sheep in a white flock. Most of the Kogon Sect despised him. He'd heard about a new Shikabane Hime, Makina Hoshimura, even seen her from afar, once, but a vendetta like that was no business of his. For all of his odd flaws, for all the ghosts that haunted him, he had one redeeming quality.

He was very, very, **_VERY_** good at his job.

Today's shikabane was a rapist who had been addicted to defiling women. When one of them stabbed him to death, he simply refused to die.

Which resulted in the huge, overly muscled monster that they now faced here on this moonlit night in the park.

_"Die!"_

"Tried that, didn't work." Naruto scoffed as the Shikabane rushed him. He didn't even deign to remove his hands from his pockets as the warped corpse screamed forwards, howling for his blood. In the distance he was dimly aware of Minai shouting, screaming at him to move, to dodge, to flee, to get out of the WAY...

...and he chuckled.

"Oi, oi, Minai-chan...I've already told you, stop acting...

He bent backwards in midspeak, shoulder nearly parallel with the sidewalk as the clawed creature rushed overhead, yowling. Confusion dawned on its mis-shapen face, yellow eyes wide wide with disbelief, then fear as it felt a pinprick of pain blossom across its visage. Naruto, still hunched over, grinned, his pearly white teeth glinting in the darken. It was not a pleasant thing, that smile. Mismatching eyes flashed in the gloom, ruby and sapphire dancing merrily as it looked on. Then, he struck with all the force of a tsunami.

...LIKE I CAN'T DEFEND MYSELF!"

In an impossible motion that defied physics, the blond twisted himself around, slamming one palm down into the concrete. In the same instant, his foot shot upward, heel crashing into-then through-his victims skull. By the time his body cleared the ground, a clenched fist was there to greet him.

"LOTUS!"

An earth-shaking bang accompanied the brute's landing, his head snapping down to the ground with a sickening crack to crater the grass beneath his imposing bulk. Naruto alighted upon him like a skilled acrobat, a foot landing neatly on the towering form of his victim. He stood there for a long moment, grinning.

Then, impossibly, the brute staggered upright.

"This won't-

_"This will."_

A hand laid itself on his forehead and pulled.

_Tug._

With a simple yank, the shikabane's soul came free from its body. It was an ugly, warped thing, black and twisted by corruption. The Rinnegan flared, boring into it. A simple clench of his fist destroyed it altogether in a blink of that eerie eye. With a wave it was gone, leaving the body itself to crumble behind.

"I'll be taking this."

"What?" he blinked. "I told you I could handle it. Now, lets go paint the town orange!"

Minai stared a thim for a long moment...

...then she _laughed._

**A/N: And there you have it. This is set roughly a year or so before the start of the main series itself. I simply couldn't tolerate Minai's fate, so, in the end, I wrote her a new one. Who knows, Minai might even find a way to become human again! As you can see, Naruto isn't quite human anymore himself. Not quite a Shikabane, but not human, either. He's something of a hybrid, and as such, the Kongou Sect tried to get him under control as quickly as they could. But come now, we all know Naruto...**

**...he can't be controlled! Expect insanity to ensue!**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review, Would Ya Kindly? And Naturally, enjoy the preview! For the two readers who PM'ed me and guessed this would happen, kudos to you! YOU EACH GET ONE OF MINAI'S COOKIES XD**

**(Preview)**

_Minai blinked._

_Very._

_Slowly._

_She turned her hand end over end, trying to figure out what was wrong. Her body felt...warm. Unusual. All her old strength still thrummed through her veins, but...what was this warmth? Try as she might, she couldn't quantify it, couldn't understand it. Hesitantly, she pushed herself off the table, struggling to stand on weak legs. How long had she been there? How long had the procedure been? It felt like hours that she had lain in a cold, dark place, yet somehow, she felt it was much shorter than that._

_"I'm...human?"_

_"Catch!"_

_Instinct took over-in the split second that the pebble was thrown she caught in her fist. In the next instant, she crushed it. Her human hand, which should have been weak and powerless, crushed it._

_"How...?"_

_Naruto twirled his fingers, his eye gleaming violet._

_"Godlike powers, remember? I let you keep the super strength, though. Hell, you might actually be a little stronger rnow..._

**R&amp;R! =D**


End file.
